Bullseye! St. John's man becomes N.L.'s only professional darts player

When John Norman travelled all the way toWigan, England to take a shot at qualifying for a professional darts competition, his aim was true.

"I never really had a plan pastQ-school," Norman told CBC Radio'sSt. John's Morning Show, "now I need a plan."

Q-school, short for qualification school, is where Norman succeeded amongst the roughly 450 players chasing 28 qualification cards forthe Professional Darts Corporation.

"It's a draw that is random so you could be playing a former number 1," Norman said."There's professionals on that tour that didn't earn enough money to [automatically] keep thatcard."

The cards up for grabs wereallocated to finalists in the qualification school's daily competitions, and to an additional 12 based on points.

"You're just not really playing the player, you're just trying to focus and be your best," Norman said.

With his qualification card, Norman is eligible to compete in the 2017 PDC Pro Tour, a series of tournaments across Europe.

Competitivespirit

Norman, also a hockey player, says he's always been competitive at sports but never expected his dart game would rise to this level.

He says he's already seen some success at provincial and national levels, and he won the Americas Cup last summer in Barbados.

Once I realized I could actually play this game it then becomes how far do you want to go- John Norman

"I truly believe it's mostly the mental preparation because there's pub leagues and dart players all over this island that are fabulous," he said.

Make it work

Now that Norman has made it, he needs to figure how he's going to organize it. Norman says he needs to work out scheduling with his family as every event is held in the U.K. and Europe other than one in Las Vegas.

"Obviously sponsorship would definitely help," Norman said, "It's untouched territory for me, we'll have to see how that goes."

Norman says he thinks he could make a living off it. If he can find his way into the top 64, pay outs range from $60k to $1.8 million.

"My brother's told me already, it's a job now bro. Yougottapractice more, yougottabe more prepared," Norman said.

But he doesn't see it that way.

"It's not a job."